Pagina's

Friday, 29 July 2011

With todays posting I share with you some very nice prints from the collection and stock of Thomas Treibig from gallery Schöne Dinge ("Beautiful Things") in Berlin.

Theodor Barth

(1875-1949)

Swiss painter and printmaker

I could not find much if anything on this artist but this painting (1917) that obviously stood model for the print. A very remarkable, desirable and skilfully executed rare print.

Oscar Droege

(1898-1982)German printmaker

Two very nice and desirable examples of this most famous and very prolific German printer. He created over a 100 prints. Not all to my taste but these definitely are ! (and comparing recent Ebay prices: affordably priced !)

August Heitmüller

(1873-1935)

German (portrait) painter and woodblock printer

A very remarkable composition and rare print by this painter .

Erich Buchwald-Zinnwald

(1884-1972)

German woodblock printer

See for more prints, details and biography in this printer Clive's Art and the Aesthete. A very desirable alpine landscape.

Erna Halleur

(? -1940)

German woodblock printer

Erna Halleur

Martin Erich Philipp

Very rarely prints by this printer are seen on the market (the most recent one was sold at a staggering 360 € + 20% auction fee: approx. $700). This one has some Martin Erich Philipp feel to it and it's big, very sunny in good condition and most of all modestly priced.

Auguste Lind-Graf(1878-1941)

(Berlin educated and based artist, colleague and contemporate of Margarethe Gerhardt)

Auguste Lind-Graf

Karl JohneGerman (or Czech) printmaker

Karl Johne

Frances Gearhardt

Not much is known about this printmaker which is hard to believe seeing this nice landscape so reminding of American printer Frances Gearhardt's (1869-1958) landscapes. Details on Karl Johne's biography and more examples of his prints are very much welcomed (this print however is already sold).

This last print from Berlin a stunning and complex flower bouguet. It is not for sale (...) as it belongs to Thomas personal collection. It's one of the nicest flower bouguet prints I've ever seen, rivaling many and even the greatest flower printers in number of colorblocks used and complexity. Below is her Sea Pines in colour. It would be nice to learn of more examples. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has prints by E.M.Marcus in it's collections but sadly no colour pictures are available.

From Thomas' collection I was allowed sharing these two no doubt rare oil paintings by Eva Marcus. It is known she travelled often to Sweden and I think the second one is showing a typical Swedish coastal scene. Great colours.

Thank you Thomas for making these rare prints available for showing and sharing in the Linosaurus. Most of them are for sale in his gallery "Schöne Dinge" in Berlin. You can contact him for information and questions through his website. I have to inform readers that his 3 Eva Roemer prints from last post are since sold. Congratulations to the undoubtedly proud and happy new owner.

Sunday, 24 July 2011

(This posting has been extended and updated July 29th, August 3th and Sept. 16th)

Eva Roemer

(1889-1977)

German painter and woodblock printer

Great grand-daughter of Fanny Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.

Fanny Mendelssohn-Bartholdy,Eva's great-grandmother.

Sharing some wonderful new finds I continue and humbly "re-blog” some of Clive’s (Art and the Aesthete) text. All is said here about Eva Roemer’s artistic qualities, and there’s really nothing I could add besides concluding, according to the genealogy, Eva Roemer probably never married and that she favoured the color blue.

"Eva Roemer was an exceptionally talented artist who specialized in woodblock printing, although she also had a great deal of success in her native Germany with paintings. She was a native of Berlin who came from a very successful artistic background.

Her father was the sculptor Bernardt (Willhelm Erdmann) Roemer (also Römer,1852-1891) who exhibited widely in the salons of Germany and Austria. Eva was a student in both Berlin and later in Hamburg. She traveled throughout Italy, and Holland as well as extensive travels throughout the U.S., however it was the Asian influences that I think I had such a longterm effect on her artistic output.

Frühlingabend am Badansee (see below)

Her woodblock prints have a softness that I particularly like, and despite the softness her works have a strength of imagery. Her landscapes utilize the classic Japanese composition and aesthetic, which I love. There is a near smokiness to her watercolor images because of the use, and the end result is wonderful".

So far for Clive's text and pictures.The tree on the lake print is called "Fruhlingsabend am Badansee". Probably (most likely) this should read Badinsee, or Lake Badin in Carolina USA. It was constructed in 1917 and hopefully this would fit with Eva's alledged travels in the USA.

Here is some new found information and some new examples of her woodblock prints. And I recently discovered Eva Roemer was the great-granddaughter of Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1805-1847) the favorite older sister of composer, pianist, organist etc... Felix (1809-1947). Fanny herself an acknowledged pianist and composer.

Fanny Mendelssohn and Wilhelm Hensel

Fanny Mendelsohn-Bartholdy married painter to the Imperial Prussian court Wilhelm Hensel (1794-1861). He painted his famous brother in law (below).

Their son Sebastian Ludwig Felix Hensel (1830-1898), entrepreneur and landowner was born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad).

Felix Mendelssohn-Barholdy by his brother in law Wilhelm Hensel

He was the father of Fanny Hensel (1857-1891) who married sculptor Bernardt Willhelm Erdmann Roemer (or Römer, above), Eva’s father. Fanny’s brother Kurt Hensel (1861-1941), Eva’s uncle, was an important German mathematician.

Statue by Bernardt Roemer
Eva's father
the only example of his work I could find.

During the 19th and early 20th century universities and schools of Germany were littered with learned men, professors, bankers and artists all descendants of important, enlightened, fertile and prolific German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), Felix and Fanny's grand-father. Son of Mendel Dessau, hence the "Mendels'sohn" family name

Moses Mendelssohn (1727-1786)

Indeed a very successful, artistic, influential and interesting family that rose to great heights from a very poor Jewish Torah-scroll writer namend Mendel Dessau, living around 1720 in Dessau.

These 3 lake side prints seem to have been composed from the same viewpoint and obviously belonged together. With thanks to:

Thomas Treibig in Berlin, who has on offer these last three land/lakescape prints (with some glass reflections) by Eva Roemer in his Gallerie "Schöne Dinge":http://schoene-dinge-berlin.de/and from whom's stock and collection I shall reveal some more great and unknown prints shortly.

Saturday, 16 July 2011

Recently being in contact with John Hall Thorpe’s relatives in Australia (hello Glenda) after sharing most of his flower and other prints on this Blog I today want to share an amazing find.

Silkscreen print by Janet Laura Scott.

John Hall Thorpe, Nasturtiums

Janet Laura Scott (born 1888) was a very famous children books illustrator for the Volland Publishing Company. I learned from this company specialized in children books and postcards in Japonismehttp://lotusgreenfotos.blogspot.com/ : (Rachel Elmer's prints and Volland).

The Volland Company was started by German immigrant Paul Frederick Volland in 1908 and continued until 1934 when the company was sold although founder Paul F. Volland was shot dead in his office by a psychotic woman in 1919.

Besides illustrating many (famous) children books for Volland in the Art Deco period Janet Laura Scott was also a very good watercolor artist as can be seen in this painting.

First I want to share some of the most irresistible illustrations with you.

From Edith Mitchell’s: “Betty and Bobby Bubble”.

(Some of these were earlier shown in Japonisme)

From Elisabeth Gordon’s 1920: “the Turned Intos”.

From (?): “Good morning dear children”.

But the big surprise is in these 4 flowers and fruits silkscreen prints that have such a familiar "feeling" about them.

Janet Laura Scott in Hall Thorpe's style.

Janet Laura Scott in Hall Thorpe's style

Janet Laura Scott in Hall Thorpe's style

Other printers (followers?) in the "John Hall Thorpe style" (was he the first to use the blackened background?) are American Margaret Jordan Patterson (1867-1950), British Thomas Todd Blaylock (1876-1929), Canadian Barbara Harvey Leighton (1911-1986) and the British publishing company of Ralph & Mott (active in the 1930's). You can find these printers, with many examples, treated in the Linosaurus using the search function).

Excavating and digging some further I think it will come as a surprise learning that Janet Scott was the second wife of American wood engraver and printer Carroll Thayer Berry (1886-1978). His wood engravings of coastal areas and sailing ships are well documented but I'll show you some of his little known and hardly ever seen relief prints in next posting.

I thought I'd done a thorough search for pictures in last weeks Ploughing Posting. Finding some that should have been included and can impossibly be left out urging me to return one more time to the ploughing horses on woodblock prints.

George Soper (1870-1942) etcher, woodblock printer, illustrator and painter. Famous for his paintings, etchings and prints of British rural life and in particular the big British working horses.. There are many drawings depicting this ploughing scene from his hand. His works are included in the collections in the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum.

Esherick has his own museum and many websites and Blogs are dedicated to this versatile and long lived artist who is unjustly not often referred to anymore but who had a great influence on modern furniture design.

He is so good (and I cannot understand and reluctantly have to admit I'd never heard of him before) I decided sharing some more of his great woodblock prints here.

Googling Esherick will reveal marvellous examples of exotic, arts and crafts and honest furniture and house and home designs.

Please let me know what you think of these wonderful images in so many different styles by leaving a comment. And please have a(nother) look at the signature in the first Ploughing Post three days ago.

As a PS from Charles (thank you Modern Printmakers) this Ex-libris, a miniature landscape by Adrian Feint